Past Golden Spike Events
The first Golden Spike event was in 1999 in Holden.
Next one was in 2002 on the campus of Bentley University in Waltham near the old truss bridge over Linden St. Over 400 people attended this event making it the largest rail trail ever held in Mass--up to that time.
Other events over the years included a small gathering at Northampton Brewery in 2008 years ago. Another was in Somerville and another one in Rutland that included a tour of Charnock Cut--the highest point on the MCRT.
Also in 2014, we did rail trail update events in both Easthampton, MA and Simsbury, CT for gatherings of the folks involved in the north - south trail.
The location for 2018 event has a special meaning, too. Union Station is located at 0.0 miles—the starting point for the east-west line that goes all the way to Boston’s North Station. And it is the technical terminus--0.0 miles of the old New Haven Railroad’s Canal Division line from New Haven, CT to Northampton.
The 2018 location was at the junction of the longest interstate trail developing in the Northeast with the longest developing rail trail in Massachusetts.
The 2022 event was held in Gilbertville at The Stone Church. This was delayed a year by the Covid Pandemic. It featured 2 keynote speakers; Peter Harnik, co-founder of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Matthew Kierstead of Milestone Heritage Consulting who did the historic interpretation along the Empire State Trail in New York. GS2022.org is that site. Check it out.
Our ninth event will be on October 14, 2023 at AmVets, 79 Superior Dr Natick. Please do come. GS2023.org is the site.
The small images just above here are of the MCRT's Golden Spike event in 2002 on the campus of Bentley University in Waltham Massachusetts.
The image to the right is of a bumper sticker that was popular in the Metro West area of EMass back in the mid-90s.
And the overall background image here is by K.C. Martin and it is over one of the Connecticut River communities near to the MCRT's Norwottuck section.
